Atheros' Align: Does Single Stream 802.11n Really Help?

[Unregistered]

Hi,

I just want to mention that Atheros are not the first to come up with 1x1 11n solutions.

Ralink are already almost Mass Producing their RT3050 (AP/Router) and RT3070 (USB) chips.
Engineering samples were released to OEM manufacturers around August.

The 1x1 USB gets real throughput of around 65mbps which is still 3 times standard 11g.

 

[Enki42]

I think they should keep with only allowing 1x1 for mobile devices and maybe even have a max amount of power the chipset could use to get certified. I'm not so sure if the second part is really fesable but basically 1x1 should be used in low power devices like cell phones to end the need for 802.11g chipsets where higher end devices can't work but shouldn't be allowed to be used to make a device cheaper.

 

[DaveMcLain]

I'm currently using a device with a single stream N adapter or so I think. It's an ASUS Eee PC netbook and when connecting to my D-Link DIR-655 the windows client shows a rate of 65Mbs with the router set on a 20Mhz channel width and 150Mbs with the router setting changed to auto/40Mhz. In the routers status page it shows with a 54% signal a rate of 108Mbs with the 40Mhz channel width.

I'm assuming that the single stream N device was used on this netbook for a couple of reasons. Cost number one but also so that it uses less power than a multiple stream adapter would use.

The wireless adapter in this netbook seems to have nice range so it should work ok.

 

[sfx2000]

Bumping this thread - starting to see a number of not only add-in USB dongles with single stream, but two of two samples of OEM laptops with built-in WiFi Qualcomm-Atheros AR9285 cards that are single stream (Lenovo and HP consumer grade machines)...

I can understand handhelds (SmartPhones, Tablets, PMP's) having single stream, as their little processors have lower bandwidth, and there are power concerns with small batteries, but there is no excuse for a 15 inch Core I5 laptop to be neutered with a sub-standard 802.11n card...